Best places to live in Tennessee, ranked on a score you can check

Best places to live in Tennessee at a glance

Best places to live in Tennessee: the shortlist and scoring rule

Start your shortlist with Columbia if price matters most, and with Thompson's Station or Franklin if you want Williamson County's low tax and rising values. Columbia's catch is about 40 straight-line miles to downtown Nashville and no county tax freeze; Thompson's Station and Franklin cost two to two and a half times its price. Those picks come from scoring 17 Tennessee cities on four published inputs and nothing else.

The rule, so you can check every point:

• Price (30 points). Zillow's typical home value, September 2026. Lowest value gets 30, highest gets 0.
• Property tax (25 points). The effective tax on market value: 25% assessment times the combined rate per $100. Williamson County towns use the 2026 combined rates from the county's official table (Franklin outside the FSSD $1.566, Fairview $2.1404, Thompson's Station $1.403). Every other place uses its 2025 rate from the Tennessee Comptroller, adjusted by the county's appraisal ratio, and is labeled 2025. Lowest rate gets 25.
• One-year value change (20 points). Zillow, September 2025 to September 2026. Biggest rise gets 20.
• Ten-year value change (25 points). Zillow, September 2016 to September 2026. Biggest rise gets 25.

Each input is scaled between the best and worst place on the list: points = weight × (worst − this place) ÷ (worst − best). The four results add up to a score out of 100, and a tie goes to the cheaper place. Crime and school ratings aren't scored, because no single source rates all 17 places the same way in the same year; the closing sections show where to check them. This is a site about relocating to Franklin, so read Franklin's fourth place knowing who wrote the list, and check it against the table.

The five best places to live in Tennessee on the score

1. Columbia, Maury County: 80.5

Columbia has the lowest typical value in Middle Tennessee on this list at $369,414, and its value more than doubled in ten years (+126.5%, the best on the list). An estimated $2,000 a year in property tax on that typical home keeps the monthly cost low. The catch is distance: Columbia sits about 40 straight-line miles from downtown Nashville, the farthest Middle Tennessee town scored here, and Maury County has no county tax freeze for owners 65 and older.

2. Knoxville: 76.7

Knoxville almost ties Columbia on price ($368,965) and ten-year growth (+124.9%), and it's the only East Tennessee city in the top half. You'd be buying about 159 straight-line miles from Nashville, so this is a pick for someone whose job doesn't depend on Middle Tennessee. The effective tax, about 0.67% of value on 2025 rates, is the reason it doesn't take first place.

3. Thompson's Station, Williamson County: 69.5

Thompson's Station, a Williamson County town south of Franklin, has the lowest property tax rate of the 17 places: $1.403 per $100 of assessed value in 2026, so about $2,555 a year on the typical $728,431 home. Values rose 109.6% in ten years. The catch is the price itself, which is twice Columbia's, and a 1.44% gain this year that trails Franklin's.

4. Franklin, Williamson County: 68.7

Franklin scores on momentum. Zillow's typical value of $913,277 rose 3.02% in a year and 109.8% in ten, and September 2026 was a record high. The 2026 rate outside the Franklin Special School District (FSSD) is $1.566, about $3,575 a year on that typical home; inside the FSSD it's $2.2433, about $5,122. Price costs Franklin the points: only Brentwood is more expensive. If Franklin is on your list, our Williamson County property tax rates and bill math show how the FSSD line moves the bill.

5. Fairview, Williamson County: 68.3

Fairview is the cheapest town entirely inside Williamson County at $535,208, with 114.2% growth over ten years. Fairview's city rate rose for 2026, and the combined $2.1404 adds about $2,864 a year on the typical home, which is what holds it below Franklin. The other catch is this year's gain, just 0.23%, the smallest of any Williamson County town.

Places 6 to 12: the middle of the best places to live list

Nolensville and Brentwood lose points on price; the other five lose them on slow growth.

6. Nolensville, Williamson County: 67.5

Nolensville's typical home costs $834,285 and rose 3.56% in a year, the second-best gain on the list. Its 2026 combined rate of $1.64 puts the estimated bill at $3,421. Ten-year growth of 101.8% trails Franklin's 109.8%, and that's the line that keeps it out of the top five.

7. Lebanon, a Wilson County town: 64.2

Lebanon's typical home is $441,712, with an estimated tax of $1,964 a year on 2025 rates. That tax figure flatters it: Wilson County's appraisal ratio was 0.6854 in 2025, meaning assessments trail market prices, and bills can jump when the county next reappraises. Ten-year growth of 92.1% sits mid-table.

8. Brentwood, Williamson County: 63.2

Brentwood would be first on momentum alone: +4.08% in a year and +114.6% in ten, both near the top. Its 2026 rate of $1.49 is among the lowest. But Zillow's typical value is $1,388,985, the highest on the list, and the estimated $5,174 tax bill is the largest in dollars even at that low rate. Price alone moves it to eighth.

9. Gallatin, a Sumner County town: 58.8

Gallatin's $436,321 typical value and roughly $2,128 tax bill are both modest, and Sumner County's 2025 appraisal ratio of 1.0 means that estimate isn't hiding a reappraisal jump. The weak spot is growth: +0.59% in a year and +87.2% in ten, a ten-year gain below every Williamson County town.

10. Mount Juliet, a Wilson County town: 57.4

Mount Juliet's estimated effective tax, about 0.38% of value, is close to Brentwood's, but like Lebanon it rests on Wilson County's 0.6854 appraisal ratio. Its ten-year gain of 84.4% is the second lowest on the list, and that's where the points go.

11. Spring Hill, Williamson County side: 57.2

Spring Hill is split between Williamson and Maury counties, and the score uses only the Williamson side, where the 2026 combined rate is $2.009 (about $2,606 a year on the $518,832 typical home). Maury County reappraised in 2026 and its new rate isn't verified, so don't estimate a Maury-side bill from old figures: check the Maury County Trustee. Values are still below their July 2022 peak. Our Spring Hill guide covers the county line.

12. Smyrna, a Rutherford County town: 56.3

Smyrna's typical home, $400,537, is the cheapest within 20 straight-line miles of Nashville. It's also one of five places on the list where values fell in the past year (-0.78%), and Rutherford County's 2025 appraisal ratio of 0.8462 means its estimated $2,035 tax bill may rise at reappraisal.

The bottom five on the best places to live score

Four of these five lost value over the past year.

13. Hendersonville, a Sumner County town: 56.1

Hendersonville is close to Nashville (about 14 straight-line miles) and moderately priced at $515,384, but its value is below the August 2022 peak and ten-year growth is 86.3%. Distance isn't in this score; on the Nashville suburbs ranking, which adds miles to downtown, it finishes fifth.

14. Murfreesboro, Rutherford County: 54.3

Murfreesboro has the highest effective tax of the Nashville ring towns here, about 0.60% of value on 2025 rates, and its value slipped 0.51% in a year. The typical home costs $424,348, within a few thousand dollars of Nashville's, so you'd pay a near-Nashville price for a value that's still easing.

15. Chattanooga: 47.9

Chattanooga's $314,999 typical home is the second cheapest on the list. The tax is what pulls it down: Hamilton County plus the city came to $3.4457 per $100 in 2025, about 0.86% of value, the second highest here. Values also fell 1.29% in a year, so the low entry price comes with a falling trend and a tax rate topped only by Memphis.

16. Nashville, Davidson County: 39.9

Nashville's typical value is $425,889, down 2.53% in a year and still below its August 2022 peak. Its 2025 combined rate of $2.814 per $100 is about 0.70% of value, nearly twice Franklin's rate outside the FSSD, and ten-year growth (+78.7%) is the lowest on the list. For a buyer, the fall is an opening to negotiate; for the score, it's three weak inputs.

17. Memphis, Shelby County: 37.7

Memphis wins on price by a distance ($151,794) and finishes last on tax and one-year change. Its 2025 combined rate of $5.2708 per $100 is about 1.32% of value, the highest on the list, so the tax on a typical Memphis home (about $2,000) equals the bill on a $369,414 home in Columbia.

Best places to live in Tennessee compared

Every input behind the scores. Tax bills are estimates on Zillow's typical value: Williamson County towns use 2026 combined rates; other places use 2025 Comptroller rates and their county's appraisal ratio. Real bills use the assessor's appraisal of each home.

The lowest price doesn't buy the lowest tax. Memphis and Chattanooga are the two cheapest places and carry the two highest effective rates, while the four Williamson County towns in the top six all sit at or below 0.54%.

How to re-weight the best places to live score for yourself

The order moves with the weights, so set them to match what you need, using the table above. Three examples, run on the same 17 places:

Price and tax only: Lebanon becomes the best place to live

Weight price and tax 50/50 and drop value change. Lebanon (83.4), Mount Juliet (82.3) and Smyrna (81.8) lead, Columbia slips out of the top three, and Brentwood falls to last because its price outweighs its low rate. Use this if you plan to hold for a short time and care about the monthly cost now.

Value change only: Brentwood tops Tennessee

Weight the one-year and ten-year changes 50/50. Brentwood (87.5) leads, then Columbia, Knoxville and Franklin, and Nashville falls to the bottom at 1.8. Use this if resale value matters more to you than entry price.

Tax only: Thompson's Station tops Tennessee

Score on tax alone and Thompson's Station, Brentwood, Mount Juliet and Franklin take the top four, while Memphis scores zero. Mount Juliet's rank depends on an appraisal ratio that resets at reappraisal.

To add your own input, give each place points the same way: weight × (worst − this place) ÷ (worst − best), with the direction flipped for anything where higher is better. If the commute matters to you, add it: straight-line miles to Nashville are on the scored list of Nashville suburbs.

What the best places to live score leaves out: safety and schools in Tennessee

Safest places to live in Tennessee: where to check the data

Crime isn't in the score because the official figures don't line up across 17 agencies in a single year. The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation publishes offenses by agency through its CrimeInsight portal (TIBRS data), and the FBI's Crime Data Explorer covers agencies that report to it. Compare the same offense group, per 1,000 residents, for the same year, and read our Franklin crime data and method for how to do that. We don't call any place safe or unsafe.

Tennessee school districts: what the state's designation says

The Tennessee Department of Education rates districts each year. For 2024-25, the Franklin Special School District was one of 14 districts statewide rated Exemplary, the top tier (an overall score of 3.1 or more out of 4.0); 100 were Advancing, 21 Satisfactory and 8 In Need of Improvement. We didn't score districts because we haven't pulled every district's rating for this list. The guide to Franklin's two school systems explains FSSD and Williamson County Schools and links each district's zone finder; never assume a home's school from its address.

Pros and cons of moving to Tennessee

Three money facts work for you anywhere in the state. Tennessee doesn't tax wages, its tax on interest and dividends ended after 2020, and there's been no inheritance tax since 2016. Property tax is assessed at 25% of appraised value, and on this list every Middle Tennessee place except Nashville comes in at or under about 0.60% of value.

The costs that work against you: a 7% state sales tax plus up to 2.75% local (9.75% in both Davidson and Williamson counties), groceries taxed at 4% state plus local, and no general homestead exemption of the kind Florida and Texas give every owner. Relief is limited by age and income. If you're weighing Florida, the useful comparison is that neither state taxes wages, so compare the property tax on the home you'd buy. Our cost of living in Tennessee by metro puts those taxes next to home prices, and the moving to Tennessee checklist covers the paperwork in order.